Chapter 231: Clashing with Broken Blades
The three third-tier scaled beasts lowered their bodies, their spinal spurs taut and rigid. The roars in the passage layered upon each other, pressing down with suffocating force. They no longer took turns probing; instead, they formed a horizontal line, completely blocking the wide fissure. Their thick hind legs pushed against the rubble-strewn ground, the scales over their muscles tensing as they gathered strength for a coordinated charge. The Beast Commander hid in the shadows of the scaled beast tide behind them, using its psychic tendrils to lock onto these three elites, synchronizing their movements to deny the cabin's defenders any chance of parrying them one by one.
Inside the fissure, Scholar Su and the remaining soldiers quickly reformed their line. The warrior who had just been injured was dragged to the side and handed over to the military doctor. The bandage on his wound was soaked with blood; he was shivering from the cold, his consciousness repeatedly sinking between the illusions and the searing pain. He could only rely on a comrade pressing down on his shoulder to barely maintain his clarity. There were now only seven men left to block the fissure. They had very few short blades and sharpened steel shards, and the weapon shortage was severe. Each of them had to face the impact of a third-tier scaled beast directly.
"Do not take the charge head-on. Dodge their vanguard and focus on attacking the eye sockets, the soft skin under the jaw, and the gaps in the belly scales," Scholar Su instructed in a low voice. He repeatedly bit his tongue hard, using the sharp pain to suppress the illusions surging in his Sea of Consciousness. "Once all the gate latches break, do not bunch up at the door. Retreat backward and rely on the steel-frame compartments inside the cabin to stage a defense, leaving space for the civilians to fall back and take cover."
Lin Yan stood guard by the terminal, projecting his Sea of Consciousness outward with all his might. His head throbbed with pain, and his vision was occasionally obscured by a gray mist. On the screen, the Spiderweb Ancient Being's spores from underground had traveled through the second air duct and paused at the pipe's corner, not yet spreading into the main cabin. However, it had not stopped; it was maneuvering toward the intake of the final main ventilation route. If this last vent fell, the entire shelter pod would become a spore poison cage. Without needing the scaled beasts to break in, everyone's Sea of Consciousness would be submerged in toxins, collectively plunging into loss of control.
"The Spiderweb Ancient Being is targeting the filter of the final main intake. It is bypassing the branches we have already shut down," Lin Yan's voice sounded weak. "We have no extra valves left to close. This is the last lifeline of ventilation for the entire cabin. If we lose it, we won't even have clean air left to breathe."
The technician at the operations post stared fixedly at the ventilation monitoring screen, his fingers hovering over the valve, trembling uncontrollably. He knew this route could not be shut down. Closing it would cause the oxygen in the sealed cabin to deplete rapidly, leading to everyone suffocating—a dead end even faster than the scaled beasts breaking the door. They could only watch helplessly as the spores slowly crawled toward the filter, completely powerless to stop them.
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the ancient beings resonated calmly.
The Beast Commander controlled the timing of the charge, waiting for a synchronized node. Capitalizing on the thin stream of spores continuously pouring in through the fissure, the Sharp-Sense Ancient Being constantly raised the threshold of mental erosion. Waves of dizziness, nausea, and limb weakness crashed over everyone in the cabin like a tide. Many civilians had already collapsed on the ground, clutching their heads and groaning in agony. Illusions of slaughter and of warmth and fullness alternated in their minds, leaving them unable to tell which was real. The Illusion Ancient Being no longer projected large-scale images; it simply continued to bury a single thought deep within everyone's Sea of Consciousness: Step back, and the suffering will end.
The supreme ruler quietly looked down upon this tiny battlefield.
It saw that these humans, despite being driven to the absolute brink, had not a single person voluntarily step back from the fissure. It saw that despite their lack of weapons, their starvation, their freezing cold, and their minds being constantly eroded by mental torment, they were still arranging evacuation routes for the civilians. This unyielding resilience was uncommon in its long hunting records. But it would not show mercy because of this; in the survival logic of the ancient beings, pity was an unnecessary emotion. It signaled the Beast Commander that the coordinated charge could commence.
In the next second, the roars in the passage suddenly escalated.
The three third-tier scaled beasts unleashed their strength simultaneously. Their massive bodies, carrying a foul wind, charged toward the fissure together. The bone spurs led the way, accompanied by the piercing sound of scraping against rock, lunging straight at the seven defenders.
"Scatter!" Scholar Su gave a low shout, taking the lead to sidestep half a pace to the left. His short blade thrust toward the side of the middle scaled beast's eye.
Clang!
The blade struck the thick scales of the eyelid, leaving only a white scratch. The scaled beast whipped its head, its bone spurs sweeping horizontally. Scholar Su hurriedly ducked and dodged backward. The spurs grazed his shoulder, tearing a long gash. A searing pain exploded instantly. Ignoring the wound, he seized the moment before the beast's momentum fully receded, flipped his wrist, and drove his short blade viciously into the gap between the scales under the beast's lower jaw.
Squelch.
Dark green, foul-smelling blood gushed out, splattering onto his forearm.
The middle third-tier scaled beast, feeling the pain, let out a deafening, frenzied roar. Its massive body twisted violently, and its huge head slammed fiercely into the steel plate of the gate. The remaining three latches, already covered in cracks, emitted piercing, agonizing creaks simultaneously. Rubble rained down from above the door frame, and a new, long crack spread outward through the rock layer.
The soldiers on both sides engaged the other two scaled beasts.
Seizing an opportunity, one soldier drove his steel shard deep into the soft joint of the scaled beast's foreleg. But before he could withdraw his weapon, the beast suddenly raised its claw and swept it across. The thick, spiked edge of its palm struck him squarely in the chest. With a dull thud, the soldier was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the steel frame behind him. A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, and the steel shard slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor. He struggled to get up, but the excruciating pain in his chest made every breath feel like tearing. He could only collapse beneath the steel frame, unable to step forward and fill the gap again.
The defensive line instantly lost another link.
Seizing the opening, the third-tier scaled beast on the right squeezed half its body forward. Its massive head protruded into the cabin, fetid saliva dripping onto the ground and corroding tiny pits. Its crimson vertical pupils scanned the trembling civilians in the rear, emitting a low, rumbling purr from its throat as if it had already spotted easily attainable prey.
"Stop it!" Another soldier lunged forward, wrapping his arms tightly around the thick base of the scaled beast's neck from the side. He repeatedly stabbed his short blade into the soft flesh on the side of its neck. Enraged, the scaled beast thrashed its neck wildly. The immense force sent the soldier swinging through the air before he slammed heavily into the door frame. The soldier let out a muffled groan as his ribs fractured in agonizing pain, yet he refused to let go, his blade continuing to plunge into the flesh again and again.
Panic in the civilian area spiraled completely out of control.
The wails of women and the faint sobs of children mingled together. Several people, entirely seized by illusions, rushed forward like madmen, desperately wanting to get close to the scaled beasts, believing it to be their salvation. There were only a handful of military police officers left; they had to restrain the out-of-control civilians while also watching for gaps in the defensive line, unable to cover everything. One officer was grabbed tightly by a crazed civilian. In the struggle, he was about to be dragged right in front of the scaled beast. Another officer nearby had no choice but to grit his teeth in pain, swing his rifle butt, and strike the man hard on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious and dragging him aside to isolate him.
The situation in the wounded area was even more desperate.
The soldier who had just been swatted away was growing weaker by the second. The military doctor had no emergency medicines left; he could only press a clean cloth against the soldier's chest to staunch the gushing blood, watching the man's face gradually turn ashen. The previously injured warrior was also continuing to lose blood, his vision slowly blurring. The illusions in his Sea of Consciousness were becoming increasingly vivid; several times, he hallucinated that he had returned to the pre-war camp.
Lin Yan stared at the terminal screen, his heart sinking bit by bit.
Underground, the Spiderweb Ancient Being's spore cluster had already pressed against the outside of the final main ventilation filter. The fine spore mucus was beginning to slowly corrode the fibers. The monitoring values jumped upward erratically; the time they had left was now measured in minutes. Once the filter was breached, the spores would spread throughout the entire shelter pod via the air ducts. Everyone would be enveloped in severe psychic toxins, and without the scaled beasts lifting a claw, they would tear each other apart and collapse on their own.
At the gate's fissure, the battle continued to deteriorate.
The soldier who had been clinging to the scaled beast's neck could no longer withstand the immense twisting force. With a muffled groan, his arm gave out, and he was violently flung away by the beast, crashing onto the ground and lying completely motionless. The middle third-tier scaled beast, though bleeding profusely and severely wounded, remained fearless and relentless. It lowered its head again, its bone spurs aimed at the fissure, preparing to push forward once more. The cracks in the three latches intertwined, and the piercing shriek of stretching metal continued relentlessly; they could snap collectively at any second.
Blood flowed endlessly from Scholar Su's shoulder, soaking through half of his clothes. He panted heavily, his vision blurring in waves from blood loss and the erosion of his Sea of Consciousness. Yet, he still stood squarely in the center of the fissure, his short blade raised high, staring fiercely at the three giant beasts. Only four soldiers capable of standing and fighting remained by his side, all of them injured and their stamina nearly exhausted.
"Fall back! Set up a staged defense using the steel frames!" Scholar Su ordered in a heavy, steady voice.
The soldiers fought as they retreated, inching backward step by step, leaving the wide fissure to the scaled beasts that kept squeezing in. The passage space was limited; the three third-tier scaled beasts could not all rush in at once, but it was only a matter of time before they entered the cabin one after another. In the rear, the military police desperately guided the civilians to retreat toward the innermost storage compartment. The cramped compartment could provide temporary cover, but it was far from a proper barricade.
Sensing the defenders' retreat, the Beast Commander immediately signaled the dense masses of ordinary scaled beasts behind to surge forward. Countless tiny crimson eyes drew closer in the shadows of the passage, their low roars rising in wave after wave. Once there was enough space inside the cabin, these low-tier scaled beasts would swarm in and drown everyone.
Just then, the ventilation monitoring alert on Lin Yan's terminal flashed a blinding red.
"The filter has been breached! Spores have entered the main ventilation duct!"
A faint, dizzying stench slowly drifted out from the ventilation vent, dispersing through the foul air.
Instantly, many people in the cabin stumbled and collapsed, clutching their heads and screaming in agony. The illusions in their Sea of Consciousness erupted like a tsunami. The scenes before their eyes switched frantically, with paradise and a sea of blood intertwining repeatedly.
A dual apocalypse had descended simultaneously.
The scaled beasts had already stepped across the threshold of the shelter pod, and the tide of spore poison was spreading through the ventilation ducts, filling every corner of this iron cage.
End of Chapter.
Inside the fissure, Scholar Su and the remaining soldiers quickly reformed their line. The warrior who had just been injured was dragged to the side and handed over to the military doctor. The bandage on his wound was soaked with blood; he was shivering from the cold, his consciousness repeatedly sinking between the illusions and the searing pain. He could only rely on a comrade pressing down on his shoulder to barely maintain his clarity. There were now only seven men left to block the fissure. They had very few short blades and sharpened steel shards, and the weapon shortage was severe. Each of them had to face the impact of a third-tier scaled beast directly.
"Do not take the charge head-on. Dodge their vanguard and focus on attacking the eye sockets, the soft skin under the jaw, and the gaps in the belly scales," Scholar Su instructed in a low voice. He repeatedly bit his tongue hard, using the sharp pain to suppress the illusions surging in his Sea of Consciousness. "Once all the gate latches break, do not bunch up at the door. Retreat backward and rely on the steel-frame compartments inside the cabin to stage a defense, leaving space for the civilians to fall back and take cover."
Lin Yan stood guard by the terminal, projecting his Sea of Consciousness outward with all his might. His head throbbed with pain, and his vision was occasionally obscured by a gray mist. On the screen, the Spiderweb Ancient Being's spores from underground had traveled through the second air duct and paused at the pipe's corner, not yet spreading into the main cabin. However, it had not stopped; it was maneuvering toward the intake of the final main ventilation route. If this last vent fell, the entire shelter pod would become a spore poison cage. Without needing the scaled beasts to break in, everyone's Sea of Consciousness would be submerged in toxins, collectively plunging into loss of control.
"The Spiderweb Ancient Being is targeting the filter of the final main intake. It is bypassing the branches we have already shut down," Lin Yan's voice sounded weak. "We have no extra valves left to close. This is the last lifeline of ventilation for the entire cabin. If we lose it, we won't even have clean air left to breathe."
The technician at the operations post stared fixedly at the ventilation monitoring screen, his fingers hovering over the valve, trembling uncontrollably. He knew this route could not be shut down. Closing it would cause the oxygen in the sealed cabin to deplete rapidly, leading to everyone suffocating—a dead end even faster than the scaled beasts breaking the door. They could only watch helplessly as the spores slowly crawled toward the filter, completely powerless to stop them.
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the ancient beings resonated calmly.
The Beast Commander controlled the timing of the charge, waiting for a synchronized node. Capitalizing on the thin stream of spores continuously pouring in through the fissure, the Sharp-Sense Ancient Being constantly raised the threshold of mental erosion. Waves of dizziness, nausea, and limb weakness crashed over everyone in the cabin like a tide. Many civilians had already collapsed on the ground, clutching their heads and groaning in agony. Illusions of slaughter and of warmth and fullness alternated in their minds, leaving them unable to tell which was real. The Illusion Ancient Being no longer projected large-scale images; it simply continued to bury a single thought deep within everyone's Sea of Consciousness: Step back, and the suffering will end.
The supreme ruler quietly looked down upon this tiny battlefield.
It saw that these humans, despite being driven to the absolute brink, had not a single person voluntarily step back from the fissure. It saw that despite their lack of weapons, their starvation, their freezing cold, and their minds being constantly eroded by mental torment, they were still arranging evacuation routes for the civilians. This unyielding resilience was uncommon in its long hunting records. But it would not show mercy because of this; in the survival logic of the ancient beings, pity was an unnecessary emotion. It signaled the Beast Commander that the coordinated charge could commence.
In the next second, the roars in the passage suddenly escalated.
The three third-tier scaled beasts unleashed their strength simultaneously. Their massive bodies, carrying a foul wind, charged toward the fissure together. The bone spurs led the way, accompanied by the piercing sound of scraping against rock, lunging straight at the seven defenders.
"Scatter!" Scholar Su gave a low shout, taking the lead to sidestep half a pace to the left. His short blade thrust toward the side of the middle scaled beast's eye.
Clang!
The blade struck the thick scales of the eyelid, leaving only a white scratch. The scaled beast whipped its head, its bone spurs sweeping horizontally. Scholar Su hurriedly ducked and dodged backward. The spurs grazed his shoulder, tearing a long gash. A searing pain exploded instantly. Ignoring the wound, he seized the moment before the beast's momentum fully receded, flipped his wrist, and drove his short blade viciously into the gap between the scales under the beast's lower jaw.
Squelch.
Dark green, foul-smelling blood gushed out, splattering onto his forearm.
The middle third-tier scaled beast, feeling the pain, let out a deafening, frenzied roar. Its massive body twisted violently, and its huge head slammed fiercely into the steel plate of the gate. The remaining three latches, already covered in cracks, emitted piercing, agonizing creaks simultaneously. Rubble rained down from above the door frame, and a new, long crack spread outward through the rock layer.
The soldiers on both sides engaged the other two scaled beasts.
Seizing an opportunity, one soldier drove his steel shard deep into the soft joint of the scaled beast's foreleg. But before he could withdraw his weapon, the beast suddenly raised its claw and swept it across. The thick, spiked edge of its palm struck him squarely in the chest. With a dull thud, the soldier was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the steel frame behind him. A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, and the steel shard slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor. He struggled to get up, but the excruciating pain in his chest made every breath feel like tearing. He could only collapse beneath the steel frame, unable to step forward and fill the gap again.
The defensive line instantly lost another link.
Seizing the opening, the third-tier scaled beast on the right squeezed half its body forward. Its massive head protruded into the cabin, fetid saliva dripping onto the ground and corroding tiny pits. Its crimson vertical pupils scanned the trembling civilians in the rear, emitting a low, rumbling purr from its throat as if it had already spotted easily attainable prey.
"Stop it!" Another soldier lunged forward, wrapping his arms tightly around the thick base of the scaled beast's neck from the side. He repeatedly stabbed his short blade into the soft flesh on the side of its neck. Enraged, the scaled beast thrashed its neck wildly. The immense force sent the soldier swinging through the air before he slammed heavily into the door frame. The soldier let out a muffled groan as his ribs fractured in agonizing pain, yet he refused to let go, his blade continuing to plunge into the flesh again and again.
Panic in the civilian area spiraled completely out of control.
The wails of women and the faint sobs of children mingled together. Several people, entirely seized by illusions, rushed forward like madmen, desperately wanting to get close to the scaled beasts, believing it to be their salvation. There were only a handful of military police officers left; they had to restrain the out-of-control civilians while also watching for gaps in the defensive line, unable to cover everything. One officer was grabbed tightly by a crazed civilian. In the struggle, he was about to be dragged right in front of the scaled beast. Another officer nearby had no choice but to grit his teeth in pain, swing his rifle butt, and strike the man hard on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious and dragging him aside to isolate him.
The situation in the wounded area was even more desperate.
The soldier who had just been swatted away was growing weaker by the second. The military doctor had no emergency medicines left; he could only press a clean cloth against the soldier's chest to staunch the gushing blood, watching the man's face gradually turn ashen. The previously injured warrior was also continuing to lose blood, his vision slowly blurring. The illusions in his Sea of Consciousness were becoming increasingly vivid; several times, he hallucinated that he had returned to the pre-war camp.
Lin Yan stared at the terminal screen, his heart sinking bit by bit.
Underground, the Spiderweb Ancient Being's spore cluster had already pressed against the outside of the final main ventilation filter. The fine spore mucus was beginning to slowly corrode the fibers. The monitoring values jumped upward erratically; the time they had left was now measured in minutes. Once the filter was breached, the spores would spread throughout the entire shelter pod via the air ducts. Everyone would be enveloped in severe psychic toxins, and without the scaled beasts lifting a claw, they would tear each other apart and collapse on their own.
At the gate's fissure, the battle continued to deteriorate.
The soldier who had been clinging to the scaled beast's neck could no longer withstand the immense twisting force. With a muffled groan, his arm gave out, and he was violently flung away by the beast, crashing onto the ground and lying completely motionless. The middle third-tier scaled beast, though bleeding profusely and severely wounded, remained fearless and relentless. It lowered its head again, its bone spurs aimed at the fissure, preparing to push forward once more. The cracks in the three latches intertwined, and the piercing shriek of stretching metal continued relentlessly; they could snap collectively at any second.
Blood flowed endlessly from Scholar Su's shoulder, soaking through half of his clothes. He panted heavily, his vision blurring in waves from blood loss and the erosion of his Sea of Consciousness. Yet, he still stood squarely in the center of the fissure, his short blade raised high, staring fiercely at the three giant beasts. Only four soldiers capable of standing and fighting remained by his side, all of them injured and their stamina nearly exhausted.
"Fall back! Set up a staged defense using the steel frames!" Scholar Su ordered in a heavy, steady voice.
The soldiers fought as they retreated, inching backward step by step, leaving the wide fissure to the scaled beasts that kept squeezing in. The passage space was limited; the three third-tier scaled beasts could not all rush in at once, but it was only a matter of time before they entered the cabin one after another. In the rear, the military police desperately guided the civilians to retreat toward the innermost storage compartment. The cramped compartment could provide temporary cover, but it was far from a proper barricade.
Sensing the defenders' retreat, the Beast Commander immediately signaled the dense masses of ordinary scaled beasts behind to surge forward. Countless tiny crimson eyes drew closer in the shadows of the passage, their low roars rising in wave after wave. Once there was enough space inside the cabin, these low-tier scaled beasts would swarm in and drown everyone.
Just then, the ventilation monitoring alert on Lin Yan's terminal flashed a blinding red.
"The filter has been breached! Spores have entered the main ventilation duct!"
A faint, dizzying stench slowly drifted out from the ventilation vent, dispersing through the foul air.
Instantly, many people in the cabin stumbled and collapsed, clutching their heads and screaming in agony. The illusions in their Sea of Consciousness erupted like a tsunami. The scenes before their eyes switched frantically, with paradise and a sea of blood intertwining repeatedly.
A dual apocalypse had descended simultaneously.
The scaled beasts had already stepped across the threshold of the shelter pod, and the tide of spore poison was spreading through the ventilation ducts, filling every corner of this iron cage.
End of Chapter.